Hot Topics:

Fond farewell for Ortiz at All-Star Game

Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz tips his cap as he leaves the field during Tuesday's MLB All-Star Game. AP PHOTO

Sentinel and Enterprise staff photos can be ordered by visiting our SmugMug site.

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- David Ortiz ended his All-Star Game career with quite a walk off.

The popular Big Papi was embraced by nearly every member of the American League roster Tuesday night when he was replaced by a pinch runner and strolled back to the dugout.

Miguel Cabrera playfully tousled Ortiz's hair. As the Boston slugger made his way through the scrum of players, he wrapped his Red Sox teammate Jackie Bradley Jr. in a bear hug and lifted him off the ground.

Ortiz called the embraces "something I'll never forget ... You see all your boys."

Catcher Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants clapped his bare hand against his mitt as Ortiz left the field.

The designated hitter helped the Red Sox end their 86-year World Series title drought in 2004, and then helped them win the Series in 2007 and 2013, when he was chosen as MVP.

Ortiz announced on Nov. 18 -- his 40th birthday -- that 2016 would be his final season.

"Things are getting harder. ... As you get older, it gets a little difficult," he said after coming out of his 10th All-Star Game.

Ortiz leads the majors in slugging percentage, on-base average and extra-base hits this year. He's batting .332 with 22 homers and 72 RBIs.

The Red Sox are two games behind Baltimore in the AL East at the break.

Ortiz drew a walk in the third inning from Miami's Jose Fernandez, who said a day earlier that he'd groove a pitch for the slugger.

Advertisement

Ortiz kidded with Fernandez on his way to first base after taking ball four.

"I was supposed to hit a home run in my second at-bat. My boy told me he was going to throw me a fastball and the first pitch was a changeup," Ortiz said. "I was like, 'I thought it was going to be a fastball?'

"He told me yesterday all he was going to throw me was fastballs. He told me it was the catcher's fault -- he called it. Then 3-2 he threw me a slider and I'm like, 'Are you trying to break my back?' But he said it was the catcher's fault."

A few moments after Ortiz reached first, AL manager Ned Yost sent in Edwin Encarnacion to run and Ortiz left to a nice ovation.

Big Papi addressed his teammates earlier in the day.

"I told them that it takes a lot of work to get to the All-Star Game. You don't get here with a good name or a good family. You have to put up the numbers. I told them that they have to do that for their whole career."

Asked about his career overall, he said: "I have learned so much about this game, I would like to spread it out to the young kids in the game."